In the production process of semiconductor integrated circuit devices, after a great number of integrated circuits are formed on a wafer formed of, for example, silicon, each of these integrated circuits is generally subjected to a probe test that basic electrical properties thereof are inspected, thereby sorting defective integrated circuits. This wafer is then cut, thereby forming semiconductor chips. Such semiconductor chips are contained and sealed in respective proper packages. Each of the packaged semiconductor integrated circuit devices is further subjected to a burn-in test that electrical properties thereof are inspected under a high-temperature environment, thereby sorting semiconductor integrated circuit devices having latent defects.
In such electrical inspection of integrated circuits, such as the probe test or the burn-in test, a probe member for electrically connecting each of electrodes to be inspected in an object of inspection to a tester is used. As such a probe member, is known a member composed of a circuit board for inspection, on which inspection electrodes have been formed in accordance with a pattern corresponding to a pattern of electrodes to be inspected, and an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet arranged on this circuit board for inspection.
As such anisotropically conductive elastomer sheets, those of various structures have heretofore been known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 93393/1976 discloses an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet (hereinafter referred to as “dispersion type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet”) obtained by uniformly dispersing metal particles in an elastomer, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 147772/1978 discloses an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet (hereinafter referred to as “uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet”) obtained by unevenly distributing conductive magnetic particles in an elastomer to form a great number of conductive parts extending in a thickness-wise direction thereof and an insulating part for mutually insulating them. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 250906/1986 discloses an uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet with which a difference in level defined between the surface of each conductive part and an insulating part is formed.
In the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, since the conductive parts are formed in accordance with a pattern corresponding to a pattern of electrodes to be inspected of an integrated circuit to be inspected, it is advantageous compared with the dispersion type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet in that electrical connection between electrodes can be achieved with high reliability even to an integrated circuit small in the arrangement pitch of electrodes to be inspected, i.e., center distance between adjacent electrodes to be inspected.
In such an uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, it is necessary to hold and fix it in a particular positional relation to a circuit board for inspection and an object of inspection in an electrically connecting operation to them.
However, the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is flexible and easy to be deformed, and so it is low in handling property. In addition, with the miniaturization or high-density wiring of electric products in recent years, integrated circuit devices used therein tend to increase in number of electrodes and arrange electrodes at a high density as the arrangement pitch of the electrodes becomes smaller. Therefore, the positioning and the holding and fixing of the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet are going to be difficult upon its electrical connection to electrodes to be inspected of the object of inspection.
In the burn-in test on the other hand, there is a problem that even when the necessary positioning, and holding and fixing of the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet to an integrated circuit device has been realized once, positional deviation between conductive parts of the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet and electrodes to be inspected of the integrated circuit device occurs when they are subjected to thermal hysteresis by temperature change, since coefficient of thermal expansion is greatly different between a material (for example, silicon) making up the integrated circuit device that is the object of inspection, and a material (for example, silicone rubber) making up the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, as a result, the electrically connected state is changed, and thus the stably connected state is not retained.
In order to solve such a problem, an anisotropically conductive connector composed of a metal-made frame plate having an opening and an anisotropically conductive sheet arranged in the opening of this frame plate and supported at its peripheral edge by an opening edge about the frame plate has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 40224/1999).
This anisotropically conductive connector is generally produced in the following manner.
As illustrated in FIG. 22, a mold for molding an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet composed of a top force 80 and a bottom force 85 making a pair therewith is provided, a frame plate 90 having an opening 91 is arranged in alignment in this mold, and a molding material with conductive particles exhibiting magnetism dispersed in a polymeric substance-forming material, which will become an elastic polymeric substance by a curing treatment, is fed into a region including the opening 91 of the frame plate 90 and an opening edge thereabout to form a molding material layer 95. Here, the conductive particles P contained in the molding material layer 95 are in a state dispersed in the molding material layer 95.
Both top force 80 and bottom force 85 in the mold respectively have molding surfaces composed of a plurality of ferromagnetic substance layers 81 or 86 formed in accordance with a pattern corresponding to a pattern of conductive parts of an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet to be molded and non-magnetic substance layers 82 or 87 formed at other portions than the portions at which the ferromagnetic substance layers 81 or 86 have been respectively formed, and are arranged in such a manner that their corresponding ferromagnetic substance layers 81 and 86 oppose to each other.
A pair of, for example, electromagnets are then arranged on an upper surface of the top force 80 and a lower surface of the bottom force 85, and the electromagnets are operated, thereby applying a magnetic field having higher intensity at portions between ferromagnetic substance layers 81 of the top force 80 and their corresponding ferromagnetic substance layers 86 of the bottom force 85, i.e., portions to become conductive parts, than the other portions, to the molding material layer 95 in the thickness-wise direction of the molding material layer 95. As a result, the conductive particles P dispersed in the molding material layer 95 are gathered at the portions where the magnetic field having the higher intensity is applied in the molding material layer 95, i.e., the portions between the ferromagnetic substance layers 81 of the top force 80 and their corresponding ferromagnetic substance layers 86 of the bottom force 85, and further oriented so as to align in the thickness-wise direction of the molding material layer. In this state, the molding material layer 95 is subjected to a curing treatment, whereby an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet composed of a plurality of conductive parts, in which the conductive particles P are contained in a state oriented so as to align in the thickness-wise direction, and an insulating part for mutually insulating these conductive parts is molded in a state that its peripheral edge has been supported by the opening edge about the frame plate, thereby producing an anisotropically conductive connector.
According to such an anisotropically conductive connector, it is hard to be deformed and easy to handle because the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is supported by the metal-made frame plate, and a positioning mark (for example, a hole) is formed in the frame plate in advance, whereby the positioning and the holding and fixing to an integrated circuit device can be easily conducted upon an electrically connecting operation to the integrated circuit device. In addition, a material low in coefficient of thermal expansion is used as a material for forming the frame plate, whereby the thermal expansion of the anisotropically conductive sheet is restrained by the frame plate, so that positional deviation between the conductive parts of the uneven distribution type anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet and electrodes to be inspected of the integrated circuit device is prevented even when they are subjected to thermal hysteresis by temperature change. As a result, a good electrically connected state can be stably retained.
By the way, in a probe test conducted for integrated circuits formed on a wafer, a method that a wafer is divided into a plurality of areas, in each of which 16 or 32 integrated circuits among a great number of integrated circuits have been formed, a probe test is collectively performed on all the integrated circuits formed in an area, and the probe test is successively performed on the integrated circuits formed in other areas has heretofore been adopted.
In recent years, there has been a demand for collectively performing a probe test on, for example, 64 or 124 integrated circuits, or all integrated circuits among a great number of integrated circuits formed on a wafer for the purpose of improving inspection efficiency and reducing inspection cost.
In a burn-in test on the other hand, it takes a long time to individually conduct electrical inspection of a great number of integrated circuit devices because each integrated circuit device that is an object of inspection is fine, and its handling is inconvenient, whereby inspection cost becomes considerably high. From such reasons, there has been proposed a WLBI (Wafer Lebel Burn-in) test in which the burn-in test is collectively performed on a great number of integrated circuits formed on a wafer in the state of the wafer.
When a wafer that is an object of inspection is of large size of, for example, at least 8 inches in diameter, and the number of electrodes to be inspected formed thereon is, for example, at least 5,000, particularly at least 10,000, however, the following problems are involved when the above-described anisotropically conductive connector is applied as a probe member for the probe test or WLBI test, since a pitch between electrodes to be inspected in each integrated circuit is extremely small.
Namely, in order to inspect a wafer having a diameter of, for example, 8 inches (about 20 cm), it is necessary to use an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet having a diameter of about 8 inches as an anisotropically conductive connector. However, such an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is large in the whole area, but each conductive part is fine, and the area proportion of the surfaces of the conductive parts to the whole surface of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is low. It is therefore extremely difficult to surely produce such an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet.
Since the conductive parts to be formed are fine, and the pitch thereof is extremely small, it is difficult to surely produce an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet having necessary insulating property between adjacent conductive parts. This is considered to be due to the following reasons. Namely, coarse particles having a particle diameter considerably greater than the average particle diameter of conductive particles used for obtaining the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet are mixed into the conductive particles. Therefore, when a magnetic field is applied to a molding material layer for obtaining the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, the coarse particles are not surely contained into portions to become conductive parts in the molding material layer, but are gathered in a state extending over both portions to become conductive parts and portions to become insulating parts. An electric resistance value between the resulting conductive parts adjoining each other is thereby lowered. As a result, it is difficult to sufficiently ensure the insulating property between these conductive parts.
In order to solve such a problem, it is considered to use conductive particles having a small average particle diameter. However, the use of such conductive particles involves the following problems.
If the thickness of an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is even, the number of conductive particles arranged in a thickness-wise direction of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, i.e., the number of conductive particles forming a conductive path increases as the particle diameter of the conductive particles used is smaller. Since the total sum of contact resistance among the conductive particles in one conductive path increases as a consequence, it is difficult to form conductive parts having high conductivity.
In addition, when a magnetic field is applied to the molding material layer for obtaining the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, the conductive particles become harder to move as the particle diameter thereof becomes smaller, so that the conductive particles remain in a great amount at portions to become the insulating parts in the molding material layer. After all, it is difficult to sufficiently ensure the insulating property between the conductive parts. At the same time, it is difficult to form conductive parts having expected conductivity because the conductive particles are not sufficiently gathered at the portions to become the conductive parts.
Particles obtained by forming a coating layer formed of a high-conductive metal, for example, gold or the like on the surfaces of core particles composed of a ferromagnetic substance, for example, nickel or the like, are generally used as the conductive particles in the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet. In the WLBI test, the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet are, at the conductive parts thereof, held with pressure by electrodes to be inspected in a wafer that is an object of inspection and inspection electrodes of the circuit board for inspection, and exposed to a high-temperature environment for a long period of time in this state. However, when the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is used repeatedly under such severe conditions, the ferromagnetic substance making up the core particles in the conductive particles migrates into the high-conductive metal forming the coating layer, so that the conductivity of the conductive particles at the surfaces thereof is deteriorated. As a result, contact resistance between the conductive particles increases. This phenomenon markedly occurs as the particle diameter of the conductive particles becomes smaller because the thickness of the coating layer also becomes smaller. As described above, when the conductive particles having a small particle diameter are used, the conductivity of the conductive particles at the surfaces thereof is deteriorated, and the total sum of contact resistance among the conductive particles in the conductive paths formed markedly increases when the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is used repeatedly under the high-temperature environment, so that it is impossible to retain the necessary conductivity.
When the above-described anisotropically conductive connector is used as a prove member for the WLBI test, the following problems are involved.
The coefficient of linear thermal expansion of a material making up the wafer, for example, silicon is about 3.3×10−6/K. On the other hand, the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of a material making up the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet, for example, silicone rubber is about 2.2×10−4/K. Accordingly, when a wafer and an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet each having a diameter of 20 cm at 25° C. are heated from 20° C. to 120° C., a change of the wafer in diameter is only 0.0066 cm in theory, but a change of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet in diameter amounts to 0.44 cm.
When a great difference is created between the wafer and the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet in the absolute quantity of thermal expansion in a plane direction as described above, it is extremely difficult to prevent positional deviation between electrodes to be inspected in the wafer and the conductive parts in the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet upon the WLBI test even when the peripheral edge of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is fixed by a frame plate having an equivalent coefficient of linear thermal expansion to the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of the wafer.
As probe members for the WLBI test, are known those in which an anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet is fixed on to a circuit board for inspection composed of, for example, a ceramic having an equivalent coefficient of linear thermal expansion to the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of the wafer (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 231019/1995 and 5666/1996, etc.). In such a probe member, as means for fixing the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet to the circuit board for inspection, a means that peripheral portions of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet are mechanically fixed by, for example, screws or the like, a means that it is fixed with an adhesive or the like, and the like are considered.
However, in the means that the peripheral portions of the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet are fixed by the screws or the like, it is extremely difficult to prevent positional deviation between the electrodes to be inspected in the wafer and the conductive parts in the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet for the same reasons as the means of fixing to the frame plate as described above.
On the other hand, in the means of fixing with the adhesive, it is necessary to apply the adhesive only to the insulating part in the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet in order to surely achieve electrical connection to the circuit board for inspection. Since the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet used in the WLBI test is small in the arrangement pitch of the conductive parts, and a clearance between adjacent conductive parts is small, however, it is extremely difficult in fact to do so. In the means of fixing with the adhesive also, it is impossible to replace only the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet with a new one when the anisotropically conductive elastomer sheet suffers from trouble, and so it is necessary to replace the whole probe member including the circuit board for inspection. As a result, increase in inspection cost is incurred.